A must-read blog every day in preparation for the show is Cato@Liberty. There you will find information like this ... KPMG released its latest global survey of corporate tax systems. Sounds like a real snoozer, right? Well that's why you have me. I'm the guy who wrote a New York Times best seller about taxes.
So back to this survey ... for the 10th year in a row, the average corporate tax rate world-wide has fallen. Now it rests at 25.5%. But that's the average. This means that some countries have a corporate tax rate higher than 25.5% and some less. So ... where is the United States? Well, we're stuck. Stuck at 40% .. where we've been for quite some time. Only one country has a higher corporate tax rate than the United States; Japan.
In case you haven't noticed .. .the world is shrinking. Businesses and businessmen find it easier to move around the world in search of advantageous business climates. In a world of instant communications; in a world where no business hot spot is more than one day's travel from another ... why would a company continue to subject itself to a confiscatory tax rate when it can simply move?
This, of course, brings me to the FairTax. Right now we have the second-highest corporate tax structure in the world. But what would happen if we had the lowest? In fact, what might happen if businesses could operate in the United States without any tax component on capital or labor? What if corporate leaders never had to consider the tax implications of any decision? What if business decisions could be made on the basis of what is good for the company, the stockholders, the employees and the customers, rather than on how to minimize tax consequences. This would be life under the FairTax.
Right now you can bet that business owners are contemplating ways to escape the coming increases in tax rates in the United States. The response will be to move more jobs and more business out of the country. Sure, The Community Organizer will try to find a way to erect some sort of an economic Berlin Wall to keep American wealth from fleeing tax tyranny, but it will only be partially effective. Why not try to attract wealth, rather than looking for ways to chase wealth away?
Well, you know the answer; don't you? To attract wealth the political class must transfer power to the private sector. That isn't going to happen; not with the looters in charge. The game here is power, not the economic welfare of the American people. The FairTax would be the greatest transfer of power from government to the people in the history of our Republic. You don't' see very many people with a "D" after their names who like that idea.
In cased you missed it, we'll be running the FairTax 101 special 9-10am ET. Then in the information overload hour, Neal will answer FairTax questions that you emailed us. Consider this your FairTax discussion thread.
What, you missed it AGAIN? Okay, here's a link to the audio. Oh yeah, and it was already sitting on the audio archives page. Check there every once in a while. You never know what we'll stick on there.
Sadly, Neal is en route to Texas right now and can't be on the air with you all to discuss the Nobel Peace Prize award to Barack Obama. You know he really hates it, but who knew this would happen, right? But don't worry, we've scrambled up Herman Cain to come in at 10am ET and take your calls to discuss this development. And you know, you can always discuss right here in the comments. At 9am ET listen to the FairTax 101 special and in the information overload hour, Neal will answer even more questions from you about the FairTax. I'll post another thread for FairTax discussion so we can keep this one on the Nobel Peace Prize topic.
Here's an idea. Read this and then see if you can figure out why our politicians wouldn't go for this in a heartbeat!
Because of America's punishing tax system there is a lot of money that is owned by Americans but invested overseas. How much? Well, before the economic downturn some people estimated that figure at around $13 trillion. That's with a "T" folks. How much of a hit has it taken? Well, let's cut it back by about 30% and say that the figure now stands at $11 trillion.
It would be grand, wouldn't it, if that money came back home to America to go to work in our economy? So ... why doesn't that happen? Taxes, that's why. That money is overseas doing well, thank you very much, earning money outside of our confiscatory tax system. If a corporation or individual tries to bring some of that money back home our federal government jumps on it like Clinton on a bimbo.
Now .. what if that money could come back home to work in our economy without being taxed? Under the FairTax, of course, that would be the case. Not only would that money come back to work here, but it could be put to work creating jobs and growing wealth without any tax component being added. But we don't have the FairTax right now, so how can we get this done?
AMNESTY!
There you go! Declare a tax amnesty for all American-owned dollar-denominated deposits overseas! Welcome that money back home without any taxes, any interest or any penalties. Just ask the money to come home and work here! Would every dollar come home? Certainly not! But let's just go for about one-half about $5.5 trillion! Do you have any idea what this could do for our economy? That's the equivalent of about seven Obama stimulus plans. What's more, this money wouldn't be spent by politicians trying to insure their reelection. The cash would belong to and would be spent by the private sector! You can be sure that unless someone saw an investment opportunity - a possibility of a financial return - the money would not be spent on puppet theatres or giant inflatable alligators (seriously). Over $5 trillion dollars infused into our economy could be quite a jolt, especially in the private sector.
OK ... is there anything wrong with this amnesty idea? Sure there is! I've already outlined it. The money would be spent by the private sector, not the government. We have an administration based on the premise that America's greatness comes from government, not freedom. In the minds of these politicians the way to make America greater is to move as much money from the private sector to the government as possible, and then have the government spend it. That, by the way, is exactly what Obama is trying to do with the overseas funds. Tax them. Send the IRS out there looking for these corporations and people. Bludgeon the Swiss into releasing account information. Increase penalties. Beat this money into submission and then seize as much of it as you can.
The Obama administration is desperately searching for ways to take more money away from you and use it to fund its dreams and schemes. After all, the painful truth that most people forget is that the government does not earn any money. Basically, there is only one way for the government to get money to spend, and that is to seize it from the private individuals who worked for and earned it. Since government is force, this isn't hard. You have producers and looters. Not hard to figure out which is which, is it?
When you think about it, one big difference between Republicans and Democrats is the manner in which they choose to loot, and the subtlety with which they operate. With all of the spending The Chosen one has generated, you just know that they're burning some midnight oil trying to figure out new methods of plunder. One particularly onus tax is gaining much favor ... the value-added or VAT tax. In fact, John Podesta says that some form of a VAT tax is "more plausible today that it ever has been."
Podesta says that a consumption tax would "create a balance" with other economies and could substantially effect competitiveness. Now, Podesta says that a VAT tax would be regressive but can be "balanced" by exempting certain products and "[supporting] low-wage workers." By "supporting" low-wage workers Podesta, of course, means more income transfer and welfare programs.
Let's wade through some of the rhetorical bull squeeze here, shall we?
Podesta calls the VAT a "consumption tax." When you really think about it, ALL taxes on business are consumption taxes. That would be business tax burdens are passed down to the ultimate consumer of the product or service taxed. Right now businesses and corporations pay federal income taxes, one-half of the Social Security taxes, unemployment taxes, worker's compensation taxes and a bunch more. These taxes are built into the price of whatever that corporation or business sells to its customers. Eventually all of these taxes are paid by the final consumer. All that Podesta (and Obama) are proposing is the addition of one more tax --- one more tax to roll down hill and nail the consumer at the end of the chain of production.
If this idea gains traction in Washington will you be ready? Will you be ready to duplicate the 9/12 DC tea party with a FairTax march on Washington. You know, and these political hacks know that there is a better plan out there. A TRUE consumption tax. Let every product and service reach the ultimate consumer carrying absolutely no tax component at all ... then charge an honest and open inclusive sales tax as the product goes from the marketplace to the final consumer.
It is beyond outrageous that Obama's dog washers would be considering this atrocity when a fully researched and vetted idea like the FairTax is out there. But we all know why the political class will fight the FairTax, don't we? The VAT would ADD to the power of the political class. When they get to sit up there and decide what will be taxed, and what will not be taxed; and to set the rates for those taxes ... now that's what power is all about. The FairTax, on the other hand, transfers that power to the people. The payment of taxes would be voluntary. You could chose to live at the sustenance level and pay no taxes at all to the federal government. You only pay taxes when you make the voluntary decision to expand your spending past that required to provide the basic necessities to your family. You're in control. Complete control And that's what makes the FairTax so frightening to the political class.
Watch this VAT nonsense, my friends. It is something that will not only take dollars out of your pocket; it is a tax you will truly come to hate. Just another wonderful change you can believe in.
Below you'll see a note about CNN's Wolf Blitzer promoting an upcoming appearance on The Situation Room by Michael Moore. Blitzer told his eagerly awaiting viewers that Michael Moore would explain why capitalism is nothing but a Ponzi scheme.
Wait a minute! This is exactly why we do the afterthought here. Now in my notes I mention that Blitzer would never invite a FairTax proponent on the show to "explain how this new tax reform idea could transform our economy." But here's another angle: CNN has a stated policy of not allowing radio talk show hosts on CNN. The president of CNN said that these hosts have "nothing to add to the conversation." So ... talk show hosts are banned from CNN .. but the CNN arms are open wide for someone who wants to slam capitalism.
Oh how I would like to see a march on Washington of that magnitude promoting the FairTax. Now with the looters in charge in Washington right now that could well be an exercise in futility. But if the Republicans get on the ball and make the FairTax a part of their 2010 platform (another Contract with America?), do you folks think we could gin up a crowd like this?
Don't think that this isn't already happening in America, folks. Business, entrepreneurs, the achievers, the job creators can only last so long under an oppressive tax system. When I say "oppressive" I mean a system that punished achievement. While our tax system is nothing to brag about, the UK has income tax rates topping out at 50%.
What's the result? Brain drain. According to a survey by a leading accounting firm, one out of every five entrepreneurs says that they would not start a business again under the present system in Great Britain. At that, 90% believe that the UK is at "serious risk of brain drain" because of tax increases. Out of the 350 small businesses questioned, 89% believes that business talent will move abroad seeking more favorable conditions, and 12% say that there is a significant chance that they would move their own business.
Nigel May of the accounting firm MacIntyre Hudson says, "The Government's optimistic forecasts for recovery are based on the assumption that Britain's entrepreneurs will continue to innovate, build, work and take risk as they have before ... What the Chancellor may have overlooked is that these essential activities for future growth rely on the very people his so-called 'targeted' tax rises hit the hardest."
That is exactly what I have been saying about Barack Obama and the Democrats in this country. Their economic principals are flawed ... you can't tax people who make over $250,000 and expect our economy to recover. These are small business owners who create most of the jobs in this country. These are the people who provide paychecks. Who invest in our economy. Who donate to charity.
This is why the FairTax is so appealing to businesses. Tax burdens do make an impact on business owners. Without our imperial federal tax structure, trillions of dollars could return to this country. Imagine what THAT would do for our economy?
Hey, did you miss the Special Boortz Hour "Back to School: The FairTax 101?" We're making the whole thing available to Boortz Blast email newsletter subscribers. Sign up here. It's free.
Well, this seems to be as good a time as any to remind you that TODAY on the show we are going to dedicate one complete hour to the FairTax. During that hour I'll cover the following:
A brief history of taxation, including how politicians used wealth envy to sell the people on the income tax.
Who developed the FairTax idea, and why
How the FairTax works, and how it makes payment of federal taxes essentially voluntary.
How the poor are completely protected from paying any taxes at all to the federal government under the FairTax
The role the FairTax could be playing today in bring our economy back to health.
The current status of the FairTax in the Congress.
Answer questions from listeners and respond to the most common objections.
We'll have this hour for you at 11:00 am Eastern time with an encore at 3pm ET on our flagship station, News/Talk 750 WSB. Figure it out for where you happen to live.
Also, if you missed it, we're going to put the audio for this in next week's newsletter. If you are not yet a subscriber, you can sign up here.
Just a few months ago someone published a book slamming the FairTax. I checked Amazon.com today and that book is currently No. 193,091 in book sales. The FairTax Book was published what ... five years ago? It is number 9,961. Oh yeah ... I would like to see it doing better, but at least we're damned near number 200,000.
By the way ... I was thinking of doing an entire hour sometime next week, during the congressional recess, re-explaining and discussing the FairTax. Any comments?
The folks over at fairtax.org have another way you can advance the cause of the FairTax. Download the FairTax toolbar and it will provide financial assistance to the FairTax cause, at no cost to you! Find out more here.
A recent Gallup polls shows that 40% of Americans describe themselves as conservative. Only 21% of Americans call themselves liberal and 35% consider themselves moderate.
Clearly all of these conservatives don't consider themselves to be Republicans. Many of them are round in the ranks of or in sympathy with the Libertarians. A lot of them even vote Democrat. Conservative doesn't always equate to Republican. There are a lot of conservatives, for instance, who do not feel that it is the government's role to control a woman's reproductive life. Many of them won't vote Republican until the party starts to concentrate more on governance than it does on people's personal lives.
Fact is, the Republican party is out of fresh and new ideas, and it is ignoring the good old ones. Where are the Republicans who are standing up with anything more than a whimper for free enterprise?
OK .. you know where I'm going. I'm completely convinced that if the Republican party would put its full support behind the FairTax, and pledge to pass it as soon as they have control of the House and the Senate, it would turn next year's midterm election on its ear. The FairTax would become the issue. Sure, the Democrats would demagogue it, but as more and more Americans learned the truth their demagoguery would serve to hurt their cause, not help it. The formula here is so simple. Would you rather pay the government 33% of everything you earn, or 23% of everything you spend. What do you think of the idea of nobody paying any taxes at all to the federal government until they have provided for the basic necessities for their family? Now think about that one. Should the government have a claim on one single penny of the money you earn --- or, to state it differently --- should the government have any claim on one single minute of your life before you've taken care of your own family's basic needs? Unless I miss my guess, most Americans would answer "no" to those questions. Can't you see the Republicans running on a campaign of "Not one penny for the government until your family is taken care of." Well, that's the FairTax.
Why won't the Republicans get behind this? The FairTax is the most thoroughly studied and researched piece of legislation ever to have been placed before the Congress of the United States. Still, the Republicans don't believe that they can stand up to Democrat demagoguery. They have no confidence in the voters. They think that the voters will respond to simplistic and sophomoric ideas like calling the Democrat Party the "Socialist Democrat Party." Yeah ... that's showing 'em. But when it comes to supporting and promoting legislation that would bring about the largest transfer of power from the government to the people in our history .... The Republicans shy away.
There are trillions of dollars ... perhaps as much as $13 trillion ... in American dollar-denominated deposits working in overseas economies. Those dollars belong to Americans and American corporations. Stimulus? You want stimulus? What if that money came flowing back home to work in our economy? Can you imagine the stimulus to our economy that would result from just one-half of this money coming back home? This money would be spent by the people who earned it and own it, not by the government. The spending decisions would be privately made, not made in Washington's dark chambers. Obama's idea? Pass laws that tax these overseas earnings right here at home. Construct an economic Berlin Wall. If you see a dollar trying to escape our tax system, shoot it down without remorse. The FairTax plan? The FairTax play that could be the Republican plan? Tell the people who hold this wealth to bring it home with absolutely no federal tax consequences whatsoever. No taxes, no interest on taxes, no penalties .. nothing. Bring it home and put it to work in America and for Americans. But ... have you heard one single Republican present these different approaches to the American people?
How can the Democrats frighten the Republicans so much on this plan? The Democrats would argue for withholding money from your paycheck before you even see it. The Republicans could argue for presenting you with 100% of your paycheck every payday. The Democrats could argue for taxing everything that moves. The Republicans could argue for businesses operating in the US with no tax component on capital or labor. The Republicans aren't willing to take on this argument?
How sad it must be to have the hearts and minds of the plurality of the American people, but be unable to translate that into actual support. How on Earth do we have Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid running the show? Again, I said there were two reasons. The first being that the Republican Party has nothing going for itself. The second is because the American people have been conned ... at least in the presidential election ... into voting for a man who promised them "hope" and "change."
Elections have consequences. Are you starting to figure that out yet?
Neal Boortz show friend Steve Penley has developed a beautiful poster for the Midwest Fairtax Rally in Columbia, Missouri June 13th. Come on out and meet the Talkmaster and support the FairTax. What a deal!
We need to kiss and make up. Really, we do. As I understand it Dave said on his show yesterday that he got it a bit wrong when he wrote about the FairTax on Townhall.com. Now I'm trying to get him on the air so we can swap some spit. No problem, Dave! All's well.
... and this time it's none other than Dave Ramsey.
The FairTax is a bold proposal. It is only natural that people are going to try to criticize it. Is it too much to ask for these people to do at least a modicum of research so that they at least appear to know what they're talking about?
This time the culprit is Dave Ramsey. I like the guy, and I like his approach. His sermons on living debt free are right on, and no doubt he's helped millions of people to improve their financial. OK .. mighty fine. But now he's taken it upon himself to opine that the FairTax simply isn't, in his words, "fair."
Let's take this quote from Ramsey's article: "People would only pay taxes on items they buy, except for food, basic clothing and other kinds of necessities." Most of the FairTax supporters know that this is just flat-out wrong. The explanation is incomplete. If Ramsey really was informed on the FairTax he would know that you pay taxes only on items that you buy at the retail level, and that food, basic clothing and other kinds of necessities are included. Ramsey would also know about the prebate. He would know that every household in this country --- that is, every legal household --- would get a credit or check from the Treasury Department every single month equal to the FairTax they would be expected to pay on the basic necessities of life during the following month. This FairTax prebate is so essential to the FairTax plan that to ignore it, or to be unaware of it entirely, is worse than careless.
Ramsey also writes of the FairTax "This means it's more of a burden on poor people, because they would pay a higher percentage of their overall income." Sorry, wrong. The poor, poor pitiful poor would pay virtually nothing - zero percent of their income - to the federal government. [ALERT! Brilliant thought follows!] To pay any taxes at all to the feds the poor would have to spend above the poverty level. If they're doing that ... they're not poor. Pretty easy, isn't it? I wonder why Dave Ramsey doesn't get it? Is there a chance he just shot from the hip here without doing any real research? The FairTax deserves better than this flippant, uninformed treatment.
Dave Ramsey could be a good proponent of the FairTax. He's very bright, and he would recognize the beauty of this plan if he just would take the time to actually study it. Knowing what you're talking about .... Is that too much to ask?
Weird, this audio clip on YouTube seems to show Ramsey supporting the FairTax. Huh. Maybe he's lost changed his mind since that was recorded.
The Republicans are starting a new outreach initiative. Basically, they know that their party is hopelessly screwed. They can't save themselves; they can only hope that the Democrats screw up enough to make the Republicans not look as bad.
But they are making an effort, nonetheless. Will it work? Well, this National Council for a New America launched an open letter to the American people. What is interesting about the letter is what was left out: illegal immigration, same sex marriage, abortion .... all of these issues that have the Republican Party completely handcuffed.
Now I have a strong personal interest here ... but I truly believe that if the Republican Party would work to understand and then promote the FairTax the American people would respond very positively. They could have the Democrats on the run. Am I dreaming here? Your thoughts?
Is it just me, or is anyone else slightly insulted by this?
Come on, folks! Let's get real here. Obama says that he is going to go line by line and streamline the budget .. and all he can come up with is $100 million? Folks, we are talking about a man who has proposed a budget worth $3.6 trillion. We are talking about a government that currently holds a $1.2 trillion deficit. And he asks his entire cabinet to trim $100 million?
Think about it like this ... that is 1/36,000 of the money Obama plans to spend next year. Or as this article puts it, "if the budget were a yardstick, the administration would be proposing to shorten it by 1/1000 of an inch. That's 25.4 microns, or about half the width of a human hair." I think I can do a better job of showing you just how little money this is. Let's say that you are a 300 pound lardass. You want to lose weight. How much weight would you lose if you reduced your massive quivering bulk by the same percentage Obama is proposing reducing next year's spending? Answer: Just a hair over 13/100ths of one stinking ounce. (0.13333 oz.) Wow! Now you don't have to ask for that seat belt extender any more!
So he says that the money is going to add up. Ok, so when is he going to request more cuts? Are there plans for more cuts? Is this just lip-service? What focus group told the Obama administration that $100 million was the magic number that will restore confidence in the American people? "If you show the people that you can cut $100 million from the budget, they are going to believe that you are handling their tax dollars with care!"
For everyone who got out there on tax day and attended a rally, whether it was a tea party or a FairTax rally ... is this what you wanted? Is this really going to bridge the "confidence gap" that the Obama administration speaks of?
Yeah, didn't think so.
So now we are going to go through a quick list of things that you could get for $100 million.
$100 million is the equivalent of 402,000 iPods
2.16 million barrels of oil
4,500 Toyota Prius cars
5,000,000 eyebrow waxing appointments for Nancy Pelosi ... and a Brazilian thrown in just to get her out of the salon.
Less than one-quarter of the budget increase that Congress awarded to itself.
4 percent of the military aid the United States sends to Israel.
Less than half the cost of one F-22 fighter plane.
7 percent of the federal subsidy for the money-losing Amtrak passenger rail system.
1/10,000th of the government's operating budgets for Cabinet agencies, excluding the Iraq and Afghan wars and the stimulus bill.
So .. $100 million might mean something to you, but it means absolutely nothing to government. Obama's silly little publicity stunt with this $100 million nonsense shows either how out of touch he is with federal budget realities, or it shows how ignorant he believes the American people to be. You choose.
The left most certainly didn't like the spectacle of the tea parties and FairTax rallies on tax day. Liberals would much prefer that you just file your tax return and shut the hell up. After all .. this protesting government thing is something that rightwing extremists do, right? I think that we all knew that the left would try to find ways to denigrate the protests ... and here you go.
Princess Nancy has come forward with her own theory as to how these rightwing extremists came to be protesting our government spending habits and our tax code. You'll love this. Nancy Pelosi actually believes that these tea parties are supported by ... ready for the class-warfare card? ... "the high-end." That's just another way of saying the evil, filthy, disgusting rich. Here's her quote:
"This initiative is funded by the high-end. We call it 'astroturf'; it's not really a grassroots movement. It's astroturfed by some of the wealthiest people in America to keep the focus on tax cuts for the rich instead of for the great middle class."
So there you have it, folks. Rich people were behind this. They're somehow using the masses to protest taxes so that the evil rich won't have to pay their "fair share" of taxes. Why is it only the "great" middle class that is deserving of a tax cut? Is Princess Nancy implying that the evil rich don't actually work to earn any of that money? Hmmmm. You know, of course, that she actually does believe that. Oh .. by the way, Nancy and her husband are worth in the tens of millions.
Why the "Astroturf" word? Well ... and let's see if we can follow this: The tea party movement is not true grassroots. It's fake. Fake because it's promoted and financed by some rich people .. and Fox News, of course. Fake grass = Astroturf. Get it? Unusually clever for liberals, I'd say.
Oh and by the way, guess who happens to be known as the master of "astroturfing" in Washington? Obama's chief strategist David Axelrod. Basically what it happens is a corporation or political party creates the impression of something being caused by spontaneous "grassroots" behavior .. when in fact it is very much manufactured.
So this is what Nancy Pelosi believes the tea party movement to be all about. And therefore, your anger and your frustration is not worthy of her time because it is coming from an artificial source.
I don't think there was anything false or manufactured about what happened on April 15th. Do you? But that's how the Democrats are going to get around this ... by pretending that your actions aren't fueled by genuine concern for your children's future.
Wouldn't you like to see Pelosi just reduced to another one of the 435 members of the House of Representatives? What a day that would be ... and that day only comes around when the actual productive people get off their duffs and actually vote when the next election comes around.
Much thanks to the people of Columbia, South Carolina for their wonderful reception last night at our FairTax rally. Many were WIS listeners and it was great to see them in person. Governor Huckabee and I talked last night about the enthusiasm of the crowd. Here are some pictures.
Barack Obama says that he wants to pare down the "monstrous" tax code to make it simpler for Americans to pursue the American dream. Hey, President Obama ... I've got a really ingenious, simple idea. Maybe you have heard of it? It's called the FairTax. No filing federal or state income taxes. No more IRS bureaucracy and thousands of pages of tax codes under which to comply.
What do you think my chances are of getting that one in front of the president for consideration? More likely than my chances with Angelina Jolie?
The day is here. Tax day. For me, this day brings the excitement of a FairTax rally in Columbia, SC. For others, it will be literally hundreds of tea parties where you can bond in the disgrace of our gross government tax and spend policies. For others, it will simply bring frustration because they had to spend time filling out tax paperwork rather than watching American Idol.
I'm excited about the tea party tax protests taking place around the country today. I'll admit, at first I wasn't all that thrilled ... but I've come around. I'm hoping that we have a collective count of millions of Americans protesting big government and high taxes before this Tax Day has ended. I think we all know that the media will do anything it can to denigrate these protestors and to write off the rallies as just some sort of a right-wing temper tantrum. Believe me, there are many so-called "journalists" out there who see these protests in exactly that light. These are nothing but a bunch of greedy conservatives who don't want to pay their fair share of the taxes that are needed to run our country and help the less fortunate ... right? Can't you hear it?
Jealous? Yeah. I am. I would love for these to all be FairTax rallies. There will, though, be FairTax signs and supporters at all of them. The simple truth here is that it is easier to be against something (taxes) than it is to be for something (The FairTax). But protesting the confiscatory tax rates of the Imperial Federal Government of the United States is a great start. Every day more people learn of the FairTax and like what they see. We can't turn this mess around in a week, a month or a year. Just keep plugging.
In the meantime ... annoy liberals, annoy the government, and annoy the media. Show up at one of these rallies and let them know how you feel about our tax-and-spend culture in Washington.
I'll tell you one thing: The people who show up at these tea parties are, for the most part, far better Americans than those who put this dangerous anti-capitalist into the White House. And yes ... I mean that.
Actually ... it's an illustrated book. All I need is an illustrator.
Here's the idea. The book features a typical American family. This family has never known anything other than the FairTax. The breadwinner has always received his entire paycheck every payday. There has never been a dime withheld for income taxes, Medicare taxes or Social Security taxes. This family has never paid a penny in dividend taxes or capital gains taxes. They've never had to pay taxes on the interest they earn in their savings accounts or the profits they earn from their investments. They've never filed a federal tax return. In fact, they've never filled out a federal tax form. What's more, they have never had to worry about how much death tax the government was going to take when the breadwinner went tango uniform. The only time this family has ever had to pay a dime in taxes is when they purchased some item or service at the retail level.
Now ... along comes a politician with a wonderful new idea. He wants to change the tax system. He's trying to convince this family that they would be much happier of the federal government would tax 35% of everything they earn instead of just 23% of everything they spend. He is trying to convince them to support a new tax system whereby the government would take the taxes straight out of their paychecks. They would also have to pay separate taxes for Social Security and Medicare. In addition, they would pay taxes on any stock dividends they earn, as well as the interest from their savings accounts. Where they once had no tax compliance costs, they would now have to hire accounts to figure out their taxes for them. Where they once had no federal forms to fill out, they would now have to spend an average of 55 hours a year on federal tax forms. And ... to top it all off ... when they die the federal government would step in and take about 45% of everything that is left.
The illustrated book would show the shock, derision and outright disbelief that this family would show as this political hack tried to sell them on the very tax system so many of us suffer under today.
Tomorrow there will be dozens of protests around the country. Thousands of people. These are people who have had it with our current level of spending, wasteful uses of our tax dollars and big government policies that have strayed from the basic foundations of this country. These are people who are supporting real change, like the FairTax. I'll be in Columbia, SC tomorrow night with thousands of people who are supporting an idea of how we can go about getting our country back into the hands of the people.
It is going to be a historic day. But I will bet you dollars to doughnuts that you won't see much coverage in the lamestream media. Well ... maybe on Fox News, talk radio and perhaps some local rags ... there won't be much in the way of network coverage. The liberal media considers these protestors to be nothing less than selfish conservatives who simply don't want to pay their "fair share" of taxes. That's it. There's nothing more to the story for the mainstream media ... so to them there's nothing new worth covering.
So Barack Obama is assembling a panel to review the tax code. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker is in charge of the review to "rebalance the tax system" and reduce the tax gap. His panel will have until December 4th to report back with their findings. The only constraint on the tax force will be no tax increases during 2009 and 2010 .. oh and no tax increases on families earning less than $250,000 a year. Clearly, raising taxes on the evil rich making more than "their fair share" is a sure bet. That's what this government-crazy president calls "rebalancing" the tax code. Don't worry. This panel won't be addressing the Bush tax cuts, which will have to conveniently be dealt with before this panel makes it report. So after letting the tax cuts expire - which, for the government educated out there, is actually an increase in taxes - THEN the panel will decide if there needs to be more tax increases on the evil rich.
Now, I know of a tax plan that already has over $20 million in research behind it .. the work has already been done for this Obama panel. It's called the FairTax. When I asked Royal whether or not there was a chance in hell that I would be called up to testify in Congress about the FairTax, he said I had a half-way decent shot. Jamie Dupree, not so much. He said on a scale of 1-10, I had about as much a chance as I do with Angelina Jolie. That's OK. The tats are a turnoff.
But if the Obama administration is really determined to simplify our tax code and bring money back into the system, I just don't understand how the FairTax can be ignored.
A listener asked me this question last week. Fair enough. If (and God help you if it ever happens) I was the one making the decision, what would I do to stimulate our economy? Well .. here would be some of my first steps:
Say something positive about the power of the free market system
Call for immediate passage of the FairTax
Lower the top tax rate to 20% while waiting for the FairTax to pass
Immediately eliminate capital gains taxes
Declare a tax amnesty to allow all American funds invested abroad to come to work in our economy with no tax consequences
Cut the corporate tax rate significantly. Having the world's second-highest corporate tax rate doesn't exactly make us a magnet for new businesses and jobs.
Repeal Sarbanes-Oxley
Declare a tax holiday of from four to six months where the federal government forgives all individual income and payroll taxes.
There's more to be done for sure ... but the goal here is to get the economy moving NOW, not two years from now. The big problem with all of the steps outlined above, of course, is that they empower the private sector and individuals, not government and politicians. The goal here is to grow our economy, not our government.
Now ... aren't you glad I'm not up there making any decisions?
The Democrats want to print and spend about one trillion dollars. They say that they are doing this to "stimulate" the economy. The more discerning among you know that this is crock. This is nothing less than a massive government spending program ... one that will result in much higher taxes down the road.
Did you know that there is $13 trillion dollars out there ready to stimulate our economy? This $13 trillion dollars - 13 times the size of the Democrats spending bill - doesn't have to be printed. It's already out there. It would not add to our national debt. It would not add to the deficit. It would not be inflationary. Putting this $13 trillion dollars into our economy would not result in higher taxes down the road. Simply put ... we just take this $13 trillion that is already out there working in other world economies and bring it home to work for us.
How? The Fair Tax. This $13 trillion belongs to American citizens and businesses and is working overseas - offshore - to get away from America's punishing tax system. Pass the Fair Tax and this $13 trillion starts coming home to work in our own economy. No deficit spending - no tax increases - no creation of new money that leads to inflation - just $13 billion coming home to work here to boost our economy.
Tell me why this is such a bad idea. You can't? Well the Political class can certainly tell you why this is a bad idea. It takes power away from politicians and gives it to ordinary people. The $13 trillion I'm talking about are private funds. When that money comes back home private citizens and private businesses get to decide where it's spent ... not politicians. This is money that can't be used to reward political supporters and special interests. This is money that can't be used to buy votes. Politicians would sit back and watch the private sector drive the economic revival. The private sector would be revitalized and strengthened. Politicians .. especially Democrats ... don't like this.
State officials in Missouri are considering the idea of a Fair Tax. Rep. Chris Kelly has a bill that would replace the state income tax with a state sales tax. First things first .. the bill calls for the Department of Revenue to figure out how much of a sales tax increase would be necessary to make tax collection revenue neutral. It would also include a provision to "rebate a tax credit to individuals meeting poverty guidelines."
No .. it isn't an exact copy of the Fair Tax. You really can't do that on the state level because there is no practical way to allow the workers to have 100% of their paychecks.
By the way, if you read the article about the bill, you will notice that the author isn't a fan .. constantly referring to the idea as the "so-called fair tax." Oh and the writer also felt the need to include that fair taxes are "typically backed by conservatives."
But back to the point ... Kelly says that the proposal hinges on a federal law allowing states to charge sales tax on Internet purchases. Kelly also says, "More states are looking into adopting so-called 'fair tax' proposals, putting a 'greater degree of pressure on Congress to do so.'" That's good to hear.
By the way ... the Fair Tax has been reintroduced into this congress - and this time with the largest amount of co-sponsors ever.
The FairTax has been introduced into the 111th Congress as H.R. 25. While that's good news in and of itself, here's some better news. The FairTax is being introduced with more co-sponsors than at any previous Congress. Now why do you think this is? It's because of you .. those of you who are undying in your support of this badly needed tax reform proposal.
Now ... since PEBO is making a big time speech today on the economy, here's a little reminder about the FairTax. PEBO is considering a one trillion dollar stimulus bill. Well, what about a $13 trillion dollar stimulus? Do you think that would work? Well $13 trillion is the best estimate of the amount of money that is floating around in overseas investments, and this is money that belongs to American citizens and corporations. Why is this money working overseas instead of here in this country? Simple: To escape our high tax burdens. Get rid of the income tax and replace it with the FairTax and watch this $13 trillion start to come home and work in our economy .. work producing jobs and expanding domestic wealth. The problem, of course, is the FairTax takes power away from politicians. Politicians will approve almost any scheme for economic recovery - any scheme except one that diminishes their power.
Grassrootsfreedomride.com is working to promote the FairTax through Bike Rallies cranking it up in the Southeastern U.S. Their goal is to "Make Some Noise" so that FairTax is understood by all Americans to move this legislation forward. Sounds good to us! Check 'em out.
... 2008, I mean. Democrat and (to some extent) Republican schemes to make every American, no matter how qualified, a homeowner leads to financial disaster, everybody with a business license is lining up for government (taxpayer) largess, the YouTube and Entertainment Tonight generation - people who have no clue in the world how our government actually works or who the key players are - turn a presidential election into a glorified version of American Idol, and now our wonderful elected officials in Washington are getting ready to vote on and pass a ONE TRILLION dollar stimulus bill without even so much as reading it.
We - and by "we," I means those of us who actually work and pay the taxes that keeps this government behemoth well fed - have completely lost control.
Have you heard about some of the people lined up at the stimulus trough? The latest? Newspapers! You got it .. newspapers want some of the bailout money. This isn't new, actually. I remember an article a few weeks ago where someone was suggesting that the government set up a fund - taxpayer money of course - to pay journalists and writers who lost their jobs. An excuse? Yup - this joker had an excuse. These people and their precious journalistic abilities were just too important to our culture to let them actually go out and have to find a job out of their field if they find themselves laid off. So ... to save them the pain of having to find a job they don't particularly like, the government needs to step forward and pay them ... I guess pay them to write stuff. Of course, if the government is paying them you can bet they're going to write stuff that will make the government happy. Just like those government-funded global warming "scientists."
Right now Ford Motor Company is offering cars with 0% car loans. Do you want to know how they pulled this off? With GMAC, that's how. It seems that General Motors only has a minority stake in GMAC, and GMAC is now using bailout money to make these car loans available to Ford buyers. So, what's wrong with this? Well, if you will remember, Ford said it didn't need any bailout money. They were going to do this on their own. So now we have Ford competing against the other two-thirds of the Big Three with 0% car loans made possible by government bailout money. In short, the politicians picked a winner here, and the winner was Ford. You didn't get to pick .. the government picked for you. The one company that didn't need bailout help now has a government-funded advantage over the two companies that did.
Also in line .. in case you aren't keeping a scorecard here ... the U.S. steel industry. Orders of steel from domestic manufacturers are down. What to do? Why, get the government to spend more taxpayer money on steel orders, that's what? These companies can't sell their products on the free market, so they ask the government to make a consumer choice the consumers clearly don't want to make.
Back to my theme: Clearly we have lost control of this process. Government is in the ascendancy, individual liberty, self-reliance and economic freedom are the losers. The politicians in Washington have no real fear of the voters. They know that in all probability they are going to be reelected no matter what they do. The true allegiance of these people in the congress is to the big donors and business interests that provide the bulk of the campaign cash. They just spend year after year building a power base and adding on the privileges and perks. It truly has become an imperial congress. If you want a definition of "imperial," try this one: "characterizing the rule or authority of a sovereign state over its dependencies; domineering; imperious."
Several weeks ago I made a suggestion as to how we might put the fear of God into our rulers in Washington. I got the idea from Georgia's Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine and just expanded on it a bit. Since we all have rather short attention spans (go ahead, name your two Senators and your Congressman) I thought I would remind you of the idea here today.
We need a Constitutional Convention. More specifically, we need a Constitutional Convention called for the sole purpose of adding three specific amendments to the United States Constitution. The convention would consider these three amendments ... and nothing further. Two-thirds of the States need to pass a resolution calling for such a convention, and those resolutions need to be specifically worded so as to limit the purpose of the convention to these three amendments. Without that limitation we're going to have left-wing fools trying to add amendments guarantying such things as a right to a job, a place to live and health care. Not good.
So .. what are the three amendments? (You don't listen to me all that much, do you?) Very simple ...
An amendment to the Constitution repealing the 16th Amendment. What is the 16th Amendment? That would be the income tax. By repealing the 16th Amendment the Congress would be forced to come up with a new way of generating the revenue needed for the legitimate functions of our government.
An amendment repealing the 17th Amendment. The 17th Amendment calls for the popular election of U.S. Senators. Before the 17th Amendment each state legislature would appoint that state's two Senators. The congressmen were in Washington to represent the people, and the Senators were there to represent the states. Right now the government of Mexico has an official representative in Washington; the government of New Mexico does not. This enables the federal government to run roughshod over the states with unfounded mandates and other federal demands. Give the state governments a voice in Washington .. repeal the 17th Amendment.
An amendment setting term limits for members of the House of Representatives. Give them three terms, then send them home. Yes, I know, there are some people we would truly like to keep up there to pursue some worthy objectives, but in the balance we're hurt by those who spend taxpayer money to solidify their power than we are would be by sending the few good representatives home at the end of six years.
Now .. here's the reality here. The Congress would probably never permit this Constitutional Convention to be called. As soon as they saw state legislatures passing the resolutions to bring these things to pass we would see the members of congress trying to beat the citizens to the punch. No ... they're not going to send the choice of Senators back to the states, and they're unlikely to set term limits for themselves. But we might actually see some movement on the repeal of the 16th Amendment and serious consideration given to the FairTax.
Dreaming? Maybe so, but maybe not. Get the right grassroots organization formed to push this idea for a Constitutional Convention and you just might rattle some cages in Washington. Who knows? Maybe the people might start counting again.
We expected 1000. We had room for 1500. We filled the place .. and more. The FairTax rally yesterday in Gwinnett County was, by any measure, a great success. The crowd heard from Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss (Yes, Jim Martin was invited), Congressman John Linder, and I had the honor of introducing former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee to the crowd.
Now is EXACTLY the wrong time for you to be tired of hearing about the FairTax. Bear with me and read just a few bullet points here. Then you can read the comments and hear from all of the naysayers who will tell you that it just can't be done. Bear in mind as you read those comments that during the entirety of the Revolutionary War the majority of the Colonists were telling that ragtag army of farmers and merchants with borrowed rifles and worn out shoes that it couldn't be done. They didn't listen. I'm not listening to them now. OK ... bullet points.
The crowd just LOVED Mike Huckabee. I suspect many of them were thinking that things might have been a bit different if he had been the nominee. Now he has a top-rated TV show on Fox and a twice-daily commentary on ABC radio .. really positioning himself for 2012.
Do you want to talk about a bailout plan? Fine. There is about $13 trillion dollars in U.S. wealth working overseas to escape our punishing tax system. Pass the FairTax and that $13 trillion starts flowing back into our economy. Care to consider the consequences?
Middle class tax cut? Hey ... what if much of the middle class and all of the poor had their federal tax burdens eliminated entirely? And what if every single American household could purchase their basic necessities every single month with no federal tax consequences at all?
If Obama does what he says he is going to do, and that would be raise taxes, then we're going to see more American jobs going overseas and small businesses and corporations outsource jobs and run from our second-highest-in-the-industrialized-world corporate taxes.
Obama won this election by delivering his "tax cut for 95% of the American people lie" loudly and often. If we had the FairTax politicians would not be able to lie to the American people on tax issues. Now you see one of the reasons politicians will have to be drug kicking and screaming to the FairTax.
I'm told that the FairTax people approached another (and much more successful) talk show host about getting on board with the FairTax. The response from that host's producers? "What makes you think we want to help Boortz sell more books?"
Foreign political leaders don't like the FairTax. I had some journalists in Ireland tell me personally that they were scared to death of the proposal. Why? Because they fear that businesses would flee Ireland to relocate in the United States.
Now .. here's an interesting twist. Georgia Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine was there yesterday. Oxendine has started a movement to get various states to call for a Constitutional Convention to eliminate the 16th Amendment and bring us the FairTax. Now THAT is an interesting idea. I can tell you what would happen here. Once the congress realizes that there is a good deal of steam behind the idea of a FairTax Constitutional Convention they would trip over themselves to enact the FairTax and begin the repeal process on the 16th Amendment on their own. Why? They don't know what else the people might chose to do at such a convention. Term limits anyone?
Updated info! Mark your calendar and come to a FairTax Rally on Sunday, November 16! John Linder, Mike Huckabee, Saxby Chambliss and ... ME ... will be there. It'll be 2:30-4:30pm at the Gwinnett Center. Hey ... I was heading to Naples on Sunday, but plans change, right? Anything to promote the FairTax.
The Republicans are really going to be looking for some sort of an agenda to
carry them into the mid-term elections in two years. Do you think the FairTax
could be that agenda? I still think back to the tens of thousands of people who
showed up at FairTax rallies ... and the hundreds of thousands of dedicated
volunteers who still today are spreading the FairTax word. Two big obstacles:
First, with the FairTax in place how would Obama have won this election? That
"tax cut for 95% of Americans" line brought him victory. It was a con, but it
brought him victory. With the FairTax that line would have been impossible ...
since 100% of Americans wouldn't have been paying income taxes anyway.
Secondly, there's the demagogue thing. Your opinions?
It appears that Saxby Chambliss got his majority over that anti-FairTax
liar Jim Martin. This is one victory I am really glad the Democrats
cannot claim today. Imagine how much damage could have been done with
this Jim Martin adding to their 57+ Democrat majority.
Search Boortz.com
A must-read blog every day in preparation for the show is 
If this idea gains traction in Washington will you be ready? Will you be ready to duplicate the 9/12 DC tea party with a FairTax march on Washington. You know, and these political hacks know that there is a better plan out there. A TRUE consumption tax. Let every product and service reach the ultimate consumer carrying absolutely no tax component at all ... then charge an honest and open inclusive sales tax as the product goes from the marketplace to the final consumer.
That is exactly what I have been saying about Barack Obama and the Democrats in this country. Their economic principals are flawed ... you can't tax people who make over $250,000 and expect our economy to recover. These are small business owners who create most of the jobs in this country. These are the people who provide paychecks. Who invest in our economy. Who donate to charity. 
Well, this seems to be as good a time as any to remind you that TODAY on the show we are going to dedicate one complete hour to the FairTax. During that hour I'll cover the following:
Just a few months ago someone published a book slamming the FairTax. I checked Amazon.com today and that book is currently No. 193,091 in book sales. 
... and this time it's none other than Dave Ramsey.
The Republicans are 
The left most certainly didn't like the spectacle of the tea parties and FairTax rallies on tax day. Liberals would much prefer that you just file your tax return and shut the hell up. After all .. this protesting government thing is something that rightwing extremists do, right? I think that we all knew that the left would try to find ways to denigrate the protests ... and here you go. 
Much thanks to the people of Columbia, South Carolina for their wonderful reception last night at our 
I'm excited about the tea party tax protests taking place around the country today. I'll admit, at first I wasn't all that thrilled ... but I've come around. I'm hoping that we have a collective count of millions of Americans protesting big government and high taxes before this Tax Day has ended. I think we all know that the media will do anything it can to denigrate these protestors and to write off the rallies as just some sort of a right-wing temper tantrum. Believe me, there are many so-called "journalists" out there who see these protests in exactly that light. These are nothing but a bunch of greedy conservatives who don't want to pay their fair share of the taxes that are needed to run our country and help the less fortunate ... right? Can't you hear it? 
Now .. here's an interesting twist. Georgia Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine was there yesterday. Oxendine has started a movement to get various states to call for a Constitutional Convention to eliminate the 16th Amendment and bring us the FairTax. Now THAT is an interesting idea. I can tell you what would happen here. Once the congress realizes that there is a good deal of steam behind the idea of a FairTax Constitutional Convention they would trip over themselves to enact the FairTax and begin the repeal process on the 16th Amendment on their own. Why? They don't know what else the people might chose to do at such a convention. Term limits anyone? 